We propose a new mechanism leading to the ground state splitting for the Mn²⁺ ion in PbMnTe crystals. The splitting is due to two effects, one of which is the hybridization of 3d electrons with the band states and the other is the internal spin orbit interaction in Mn¹⁺ and Mn³⁺ states of the manganese ion. We also study the effect of a local crystalline distortion on the character and magnitude of the splitting. The theoretical predictions are compared to experimental results.